For UFC site coordinator Burt Watson, every show is big

The UFC’s year-end card is typically among its biggest of the year. This year, it’s literal with the heavyweight title on the line.

But to Burt Watson, they’re all big, from the smallest FUEL TV show – which, of course, are still pretty big – to a highly anticipated pay-per-view.

But for Watson, the UFC’s site coordinator – whom Joe Rogan has dubbed “The Babysitter to the Stars” – his fight night work doesn’t change, regardless of the stakes.

For UFC 148 this past July, Watson said when he knew in advance things were going to be heated between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and challenger Chael Sonnen, he still had to keep things on an even-keel.

“It was just as it was billed up to be,” Watson told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “All the hype, Chael being Chael, Anderson being Anderson. And then somewhere close to the fight, Anderson decided he was going to talk back a little. That was not Anderson Silva, but it’s one of those things you can push and push and push – and someone’s going to pull or push back.”

So when Silva threw a shoulder at Sonnen during the weigh-ins, as big as the buildup was for the card in Las Vegas, it got even bigger.

But not for Watson.

“They’re all big to me,” he said. “My game plan and what i do for each event is the same. The lights get a little brighter, but the temperature has to stay the same for me. I can’t let the lights dictate how I prepare for it or treat the fighters. If I do, something falls off the table and I can’t afford to have that. I go with the flow (on fight night), but I feel it afterward. My adrenaline goes up and down. But at the end of the night, or the day after, it comes down on me. And I just say, ‘Damn – I gave it that one.'”

Watson is gearing up for UFC 155, which takes place Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. In the main event on pay-per-view, heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos defends his title in a rematch against former champ and top contender Cain Velasquez. The main card follows prelims on FX and Facebook.

But it doesn’t much matter who’s fighting or how big it is. Watson’s not going to see it. Anyone who has seen the UFC’s behind-the-scenes DVD features knows Watson has been running around in controlled chaos backstage for a dozen years.

“I don’t have time (to watch the fights),” Watson said. “My eye its rained to catch that clock, and that clock tells me if I have to move. That stuff is so timed that those guys have to be in the holding area at a specific time, or somebody’s not going to be happy. I don’t watch the fights. I absolutely don’t.”

And so it will be again on Saturday, despite the magnitude of combat sports’ biggest title being at stake.

And he’ll treat all the fighters on the card the same, win or lose, the same way he has all along.

It might be natural to think that Watson’s job might be easier if he was dealing with quicker fights to keep things humming along. But along with having to adjust to all the contingency plans that need to be in place on fight night, he has to adjust to as many different personalities as there are fighters.

“The fights are timed to the minute – especially now, since we’re on three different networks, because other things have to go in there,” he said. “You’ve got B-roll, tale of the tape, so they have to be timed. It’s better for me when the fights go as scheduled as opposed to quick, because then that time has to be filled and I have to be wing it. I don’t know the time, but I know I’ve got to be ready. If they say we have to put something in the cage without ring walk music, I have to prepare the fighters for that.

“Fight night, they’re all different people.”

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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